David Anderson : DUMPED!

We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the foe, that's all
- The Who, We Won't Get Fooled Again

This has to be proof of a merciful God! David Anderson has been kicked off of the Environment porfolio.

From the Sun:

Anderson dumped, but B.C. gets record 5 cabinet ministers
Owen, Dosanjh, Emerson, Austin, Chan get the call

Peter O'Neil
Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA -- B.C. will emerge as a major winner in today's cabinet shuffle as Prime Minister Paul Martin appoints a record five B.C. ministers to his cabinet, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

At the same time, Martin will dump his senior B.C. political minister, David Anderson, who will be replaced by rookie MP David Emerson as the region's most powerful cabinet member.

I don't know why the Sun had the word "but" in the headline, this is great news:

But (Anderson) fell out of favour by criticizing Martin's most senior advisers during the election campaign, and was deemed expendable as the prime minister tried to put a fresh face on a cabinet still dominated by many veterans of the Chretien era.

I'm not sure why they are skirting the offshore oil issue, but here it is, finally:

Anderson's hard-line opposition to offshore energy exploration also caused tension between the federal and B.C. governments.

"Nothing would make Gordon Campbell happier" than to have Anderson punted, University of Victoria political scientist Norman Ruff said last week.

There we go. Finally, someone understands that this man is standing in the way of economic and social progress in the north and for the west as a whole. He was a joke on Kyoto, obfuscating and dithering, relentlessly pompous in person and generally an overrated, condescending, self-righteous man.

Good Riddance! Never Return, thanks!